The art of buying and selling cars on ebay and avoiding fraud and scams
By David Maillie
It would seem that buying cars, many times site unseen, through the internet would be a risky proposition. Especially with the recent increase in scams and fraud, many of which can actually be linked to the middle east terrorist organizations like the Taliban and Al Qaeda (the terrorist organization associated with Bin Laden) in Iraq and Iran. Organized crime is involved in the latest hot trends in car fraud like car cloning. Yet, over 1 million automobiles have been sold on Ebay and most of these went without any fraud or scams involved. According to Ebay executives there is fraud on the internet, but it is a very small percentage and there are simple things that everyone can do to lower the already low risk of it.
Do your homework. Completely research any car auction listing. If the price is too low, let the warning signs go up. Regardless of the economy, used and new vehicles have value and a set value at that. There are many resources like the Kelly Blue Book, Black Book (wholesale prices), previously ended listings on ebay (this is one of the greatest and easiest tools available to you. You can quickly see what year, make and model along with mileage and condition will bring), Edmunds.com which has their TMV (True Market Value report) which will give you an idea on what you should expect to pay for a certain model with a specific mileage, year, and set of options, etc… The more of these research tools you use the better your understanding will be along with your ability to spot a true deal from a scam (price set absurdly low).
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Feedback. Another good thing to do is research the sellers feedback rating. Ebay has a unique feature called buyer and seller feedback. Always scrutinize the sellers feedback. 99% of fraudsters and scam artists, especially those related to the Middle East and terrorist organizations out of Iraq and Iran will have very little feedback or have a trail of bad feedback reports and comments. They will also have poor English for the most part, but don’t go solely on this as many terrorists from the Taliban and Al Qaeda (like Bin Laden, a well educated engineer) are very well versed and educated nowadays.
The lure of easy money on Ebay is addicting and like anything highly addictive the fraudsters will have done it or attempted it several times and their feedback will usually indicate this. You can even contact and email previous buyers or sellers and seek their opinions. Ebay actually encourages this – they want you to get a good deal and not get taken. They also have a section devoted to auto fraud and similar at their SafeHarbor site. Ebay has done a great job of keeping down the number of scams and frauds on their site and has several tools available for you to use to help you get the best deal possible. Just log on to Ebay Motors and many of these items are available right off the first page.
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Carfax. Another great tool is a Carfax report. This is extremely important as it will help to rule out scams dealing with previously wrecked and incorrectly reported vehicles, mileage discrepancies, possible flood cars, etc… The Carfax will give a ownership record showing where the car has been registered, inspected, number of owners and history including rental car use, fleet car use, multiple owners, etc… Before buying any car – even if off a local dealers lot, always get a Carfax report. It only costs around $10 or $20 for each report, but it can save you thousands if you were stuck with a bad car. For instance, what if your car showed 30,000 miles on it but actually had over 100,000 miles on it? The price and cost of necessary repairs and maintenance are much higher for a car with over 100,000 miles on it than for a car with 30,000 miles on it. A Carfax report will rule out much of the organized fraud too.
So, get a Carfax report, do your research, and look up and question the sellers and previous buyers. There are other things you can do and should do like first test driving a similar vehicle locally to make sure it meets your needs, negotiate prices with a local car dealer whom may surprise you with a good price and vehicle (reputable local auto dealers still have the lowest levels of fraud and scams), have a mechanic overlook it if possible and purchase an extended warranty to cover anything that may have been overlooked or needs replacement (for the best deal on a used or new car warranty look it up on the internet and buy it direct from the company or insurer (this will save you 30-50% on the price by knocking out the middleman). These steps and you will have a much lower chance of being taken for a ride by terrorists or other scam artists. This article is provided by MDWholesale.com headlight cleaner, headlight repair and headlight restoration.
